May 31, 2012 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Foundation (AIAA Foundation) is pleased to announce the winners of the Master division of the technical paper competition at the 2012 AIAA Regional Student Conference.

Each first place winner received $500 and an invitation to the AIAA Foundation International Student Conference, to be held in conjunction with the 51st AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting, January 7–10, 2013, at the Gaylord Texan Resort and Conference Center, Grapevine, Texas, where they will compete for a prize of $1,000. Each second place finisher received $300, and third place finishers received $250.

Prize winners in the graduate division were:

Region I, Mid-Atlantic: first place:Erica G. Hocking, University of Maryland; second place: Pauline M. Parent, University of Maryland; third place: Brian Taylor and Megan Kwolek, Pennsylvania State University.

Region V: first place: Bahrat Mahajan, Missouri University of Science and Technology; second place: Ross Elder, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs; third place: Victoria Prokopf, Missouri University of Science and Technology.

Region VI: first place: Wei-Hsin Tien, University of Washington; second place: Clayton Chu, University of Washington; third place: Tim Elder, University of Washington.

The AIAA Foundation has a simple, compelling philosophy that drives our commitment to math, science, and technology education: make it exciting, make it empowering, and make it fun. The AIAA Foundation offers a wealth of resources to support STEM educators from K–12 through the university level: scholarships, classroom grants, design competitions, and student conferences, improving scientific literacy and advancing the arts and sciences of aerospace. For more information on the AIAA Foundation and its programs for students, teachers, and professionals, visit www.aiaafoundation.org.

AIAA is the world’s largest technical society dedicated to the global aerospace profession. With more than 35,000 individual members worldwide, and 90 corporate members, AIAA brings together industry, academia, and government to advance engineering and science in aviation, space, and defense. For more information, visit www.aiaa.org.